Liner Notes

1. Laputa by Shingo YujiThe
oldest song on this album, Laputa was composed when I was about 19. I
wrote it after watching Hayao Miyazaki's animated film, "Laputa: Castle
in the Sky." Many Japanese from my generation grew up on Miyazaki's
stories and his influence is present to this day.

2. Shadows on the Sun by Shingo YujiThis
is a song based on "Rhythm Change," which I believe is one of the most
fascinating chord changes / forms in jazz music. I reharmonized the
changes with the chords used in Japanese traditional music and wrote the
melody with a Japanese minor scale called "In-sen," which literally
translates to shadow scale.

3. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines by Charles MingusI always loved the "Shadows and Light" version of this song.A tribute to Jaco Pastorius, Charles Mingus, Michael Brecker, Don Alias, and Joni Mitchelle.

4. A Song for the One by Shingo YujiA simple folkie song harmonized with an influence from some of Debussy's later works.

5. Improvisation and Variations of Itsuki Lullaby (Traditional song)As
much as I love American culture, music and all of that, I have the same
devotion interest in Japanese culture. This is a folk song that has
been sung in my hometown.This is a tribute to Michio Miyagi, a
master and virtuoso Japanese koto (harp) player, who wrote many
variations of traditional folk songs.

6. Ame (Rain) - Interlude by Shingo YujiIt was raining so hard in LA on the recording day....

7. Help by Lennon - McCartneyListening to Brad Mehldau's version of "Blackbird" made me want to do an arrangement of a Beatles tune... So I did!!

8. Rashōmon by Shingo YujiThis
song was originally inspired by "Rashōmon" written by Ryunosuke
Akutagawa. While I was arranging it, I had the opportunity to also see
the film version by Akira Kurosawa, and there, I learned about the
"Rashomon Effect," which is "the effect of the subjectivity of
perception on recollection". I wanted to express this in my piece, and
so I decided on using different time meters and feel for the three
instrumental parts on the last theme. I got a clue for this idea from
Victor Wooten's song called "2 Timers" which incorporates some really
cool rhythmic modulations.

There's no overdub on this recording. It was pretty much studio live. I hope you enjoy it.